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I recently started playing through Platinum for the first time! I haven't played any Sinnoh game to completion since Diamond like 7-8 years ago. I always had kind of a bias against Gen 4 compared to the first three generations since DP came around when Pokemon became "uncool" with my peers. But I've still been feeling nostalgic about it so I decided to give the region another chance I'll be posting updates after major events, most notably gym badges.

-Picked Chimchar, I debated between it and Piplup but choose it for a big reason because there's no other Gen 4 fire Pokemon that really interested me (what other non-legendaries of the type is there, Magmortar? No thanks)

-SNOOOOOOOOOOOW! That wasn't in Diamond/Pearl!

-Man I forgot how euphoric the DPP victory music was.

-Actually the whole soundtrack so far is much nicer on the ears than I remember.

-I found DP too slow, was the speed increased in Platinum? Or have I just gotten more patient...

-Tried to catch my next Pokemon, Starly, without any Pokeballs. Smart.

-More prepared this time, I got him. I've been debating whether Staraptor is awesome or kinda silly looking for years, right now I'm leaning towards the former. And a bird that can learn FIGHTING type moves? Sign me up!

-Already getting my next teammate, Shinx! Them and their evolutionary line has always been my favorite of Gen 4, I always picked them and I wasn't gonna stop doing that now.

-Reached Jubilife, who on earth is this Looker guy? He's new! And ah yes the Poketch, I knew the bottom screen looked empty.

-Believe it or not I'm already getting my fourth Pokemon, Budew. I just so happen to be a big fan of Sinnoh's early Pokemon, yes even Bidoof.

-I don't care what anyone says, Budew is adorable.

-Before long my whole team is at Level 10, with such a full party early on experience is gonna be harder to accumulate (like it should be cough gen 6 and 7 cough)

-Reaching Oreburgh, Roark I believe his name is is nowhere to be found.

-Budew learns Mega Drain and is becoming a little early game powerhouse against these Rock types.

-Will Shinx EVER learn an Electric attack?

-Try to take on Roark, Budew can't handle those Headbutts, preparations must be made.

-I level up Budew and Chimchar to 14, the latter evolves into Monferno! Say what you want about their overuse of Fire/Fighting starters, that dual typing will come in handy.

-I have Budew take care of Geodude and Onix with their four type weaknesses, then Monferno finished off Cranidos with a couple Mach Punches (his low defences still make it a tight one though).

-Coal Badge obtained! So far my team looks like this:

Budew Lv. 15
Monferno Lv. 14
Starly Lv. 11
Shinx Lv. 11

Thanks for reading, if anyone actually bothered to. :P If not, I'll at least have things archived for when I inevitably forget everything that happened a week later. See you at the next badge!

Headed over to Lake Valor today. In the cavern, I saved and fought Azelf in hopes of catching it. I had to soft reset three times, though, since it turns out all of my Magnezone's attacking moves are OHKOs (I mean, I know Azelf doesn't have Uxie's Sp. Defense, but still...).
On my fourth try, I switched out to Starmie after Magnezone paralyzed Azelf with Thunder Wave. Two of Starmie's Psychics got Azelf down to red HP. Then, just like with Uxie it only took two Dusk Balls to catch.

With that done, I flew back to Sandgem Town. At the lab, I received the National Dex as well as the Poke Radar.

-Ah the first HM roadblock. Bidoof's purpose in life is fulfilled once more.

-Shinx FINALLY learns an Electric attack, took long enough!

-Woohoo! Starly becomes a Staravia!

-I reach Florama Town, what a nice peaceful place.

-Another evolution almost right away, Shinx evolves into Luxio.

-My fifth Pokemon is on the upcoming route! But I'll be skipping them here and waiting awhile to catch one because this particular Pokemon has a different color scheme depending on where it's located! Yes I'm gonna miss out on a Pokemon for a few gym badges because I like one color more than another, you can judge me.

-Man, Purguly lives up to their name, I'll give it that.

-Oh yeah, the honey mechanic. An interesting idea, but the real life wait times for a CHANCE at what you want is brutal. Thankfully no Pokemon I need for my team is acquired this way.

-I make it through the eerie Eterna Forest, I didn't like Double Battles as a kid but nowadays I find them a nice change of pace.

-Monferno learns Flame Wheel! Goodbye Ember.

-Six Magikarp, really dude? I take them down with six Sparks and get next to no experience in the process.

-I'm in Eterna City now, we meet a couple very important characters for later.

-I take on Gardenia (is that REALLY a real name?) which is no problem with two Pokemon that have a type advantage on her. Staravia takes out Turtwig and Cherrim in one hit each, then Monferno works past some Paralysis to take down Roserade. After getting the Forrest badge my team looks like:

Since I was already in Sandgem Town, I decided to head back over to the Pal Park. I just wanted to go inside the building so that I could Fly there in the future. Once I went inside, I talked to Prof. Oak for a bit.

Next, I flew to Snowpoint City. I headed to the docks and talked to the sailor to go to the Battle Zone island. After riding on a ship, I arrived in the Fight Area. There, I met up with my rival and Buck before taking the time to look around. I obtained the Super Rod, picked some berries, and talked to some NPCs. I checked out the Battle Park and Battle Tower, too, but didn't do any battling there.

Finally, I went out to Route 230. After picking some more berries, I saved.

Today, I went to explore Union Cave in HeartGold. I reached the bottom floor and saw a Lapras swimming peacefully in the body of water. I battled her with my Qwilfish and won easily. Qwilfish grew to level 33 and learned Brine, which I decided to keep even though Qwilfish's Special Attack is poor. On my way back, I encountered a shiny Tentacool and caught her in a Level Ball. I talked to Frieda outside and received a Ribbon for Qwilfish. After this, I boarded the ship in Olivine and checked the PC. Tentacool had a Hasty nature and had Clear Body. Ater resting and getting a Nugget, we have made land in Vermilion. I disembarked and saved the game.

-Gave Bidoof cut.
-Just checked Roselia's moveset, I missed Magical Leaf, I'll have to evolve not later than Level 22 so I can get Grasswhistle.
-Taking on Jupiter, Skuntank is quite tough every team member pitches in.
-Bicycle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-I forgot to put the Soothe Bell on Budew, that cost me a lot of friendship.
-I get a chance to learn Roar and Whirlwind, basically the same move, on Luxio and Staravia. Interesting, but I pass.
-At high Level 21, I need to bike up and down Cycling Road to get Budew's happiness up. This could be awhile.
-While getting my steps in, my Togepi egg I recieved hatches!
-I try leveling up and Budew evolves into Roselia! All of my team is now past their base form.
-I get the Dowsing Machine from Dawn, this'll come in handy.
-We briefly go through Mt. Cornet, I know we'll be back quite a bit.
-Roselia learns Giga Drain!
-I reach Hearthome City.
-Oh yeah, contests exist. It's been a while.
-Amity Square, yippee! I remember not being able to go in when playing Diamond, but now they allow starters in so me and Monferno can roam together. A precursor to HGSS.
-I find the Amulet Coin, very nice.
-Is that a Pokemon church?
-I get my snazzy tuxedo.
-My fifth Pokemon is....Eevee! I've been resetting with my Pokemon to get my preferred Nature, and I got what I was looking for with Eevee the first try! What luck!
-These Gym trainers are surprisingly tough, confusion is a nuisance.
-Eevee only has Tackle, against a Ghost gym. Not the best timing for me...
-Taking on Fantina, Luxio's Bite easily takes out Duskull and despite a tough Shadow Ball Mismagius goes down. Haunter proves to not be much of a challenge for Staravia, it's Ghost resistance helps.
-Relic badge gotten! My current team is:
Luxio Lv. 26
Monferno Lv. 25
Staravia Lv. 25
Roserade Lv. 25
Eevee Lv. 21

Started Surfing on Route 230. While crossing to the other side, I fought several swimmers, defeating them using my Magnezone, Yanmega, and Starmie. I briefly landed on the island in the middle of the water, but didn't stay there long as I didn't have a Rock Smash user to get the items.

Once I reached the other side, I made it to Route 229. I didn't have time to fully explore that route yet, but I did fight the first two trainers in a Double Battle and got my Starmie to level up. I reached the Resort Area shortly after that and immediately went to the Pokemon Center. After healing, I got my Bibarel HM slave out of the PC and went back to the island on R. 230 to get the items I missed.

Yesterday, I went to Cerulean Cave in HeartGold to train my Qwilfish. At the bottom floor, I encountered a shiny Machoke(a second shiny in three days, actually) and caught him in a Level Ball. Having finished the grinding, I flew to Viridian City and battled Cal. Then, I checked the PC and learned that the Machoke has a Jolly nature and Guts for his ability. Then, I saved the game.

Today, I looked around the Resort Area. There wasn't that much else to do there, though, except talk to the NPCs. I couldn't do anything at the Ribbon Syndicate since I haven't been doing a lot of ribbon collecting during this playthrough.

After that, I went back to Route 229. I managed to fully explore it pretty quickly. There were only two remaining trainers for me to fight and the whole route was smaller than I'd remembered.

Once I was done with R. 229, I healed at the Resort Area again. Next time, I'll probably head to the sandstorm route.

Playing Platinum for the first time. I noticed they changed the gym order. Hearthome Gym is now the third gym and I appreciate that. My biggest gripe with gen 4 is the backtracking. Although I find it funny they didn't change the gym leader order under the badges in the user's profile.

So I'm currently training. Sadly I don't really have anything that's good against Fantina. I do have a Rotom, but he doesn't learn a ghost move until level 29 (I don't want him to be super over leveled)! I found out you can get an Eevee early. I'm tempted to train it into an Umbreon, but I kind of want a Glaceon.

So, i forgot to save my game last time i played. I was typing here and playing at the same time and it slipped my mind.

Grabbed Cyndaquil again, named him Magma. Started at night and Grabbed a Hoothoot named Alpha. Then waited till next morning to make my way to Violet City. Alpha had the worst luck with hypnosis, missing 50% of the time or pokemon waking up next turn. Once i reached Violet City i headed into Dark Cave on a Dunsparce hunt. Mostly because of it's Rarity, but it'll also be useful for Rock Smash later. Took about an hour and a half to find one. Used Yamtaro the Dunsparce to catch the Bellsprout for the Onix trade. Took a little longer to train Alpha until he learned peck. Then he and Magma took turns defeating all the Sprout Tower elders. Magma then went and burned down Falkner's gym, evolving after. After recieving the togepi egg, i decided to add a Mareep to my team. Mostly to protect Magma from Totodile. Never used one in HG/SS before since "everyone uses Mareep in johto". Named her Hydra.

Got around to playing tonight. I left the Resort Area again and headed over to Route 228. There was a sandstorm on the route as always, but it wasn't that annoying to deal with since I used my Torterra and Magnezone are immune to sandstorm damage. Fighting all the trainers and some wild Pokemon let me get my whole team to at least level 58, with Torterra reaching level 61.

Once I finished with Route 228, I made it to Route 226 and saved there. Next time, I think I'll continue onward to the Survival Area and leave Stark Mountain for later.

I have decided to start playing Heart Gold after successfully managing to soft reset for a shiny starter, which was Chikorita. I am about to go into the Sprout Tower. For my team, I've decided to use a Hoothoot and Sentret for the time being. For this very early state, Sentret's Scratch is pretty useful

Made it through Route 226 tonight. I started Surfing in the bay and stopped on the small island first. There, I went into the house and got my Pokedex upgraded so that it can show foreign language entries for some Pokemon. After that, I continued Surfing and fought a couple of Swimmers before I reached the other side of the water.

Next, I had to so some Rock Climbing to make my way through the cliffs. There were some more trainers for me to fight, too, though they didn't take me too long. My Starmie reached level 60 from the battles. I found some berries to pick, too.

Started off taking Hydra to Ruins of Alph as an attempt to train. Took awhile, but i eventually got him up to level 10 and learning Thundershock. Spent so much time in the ruins, that the Togepi egg hatched. Named him Yolky. Saw this as a better way to Train Hydra, so i took the trip back to New Bark Town. Almost never take Togepi back to Elm, so i wasn't aware of the Everstone. Back on route 32 Hydra reached level 14 thanks to the Fishermen. Gave Alpha the Shell Bell before heading into Union Cave. Hydra then evolved to the Koffing trainer on the way through. With all of Team Rocket's Zubats, Hydra also cleared out 90% of Slowpoke Well by himself.

Today, I completed my circle around the Battle Zone by exploring Route 225. Since that route is pretty short, it didn't take me that long. I battled most of the trainers on my way back to the Fight Area, but I skipped a few because I wanted to use my Drapion against them, and it was still in the PC. Once I reached the Fight Area and got Drapion back, I went back up to R. 225 and defeated the remaining trainers.

After going around the island, my team is looking like this now:
Level 60-61
Glad I got everyone to lv. 60+!

I still have the Stark Mountain area left to explore, though. Might start that next time.

Just recently restarted SoulSilver. I went with Chikorita, who was my first Pokemon waaaaaaay back when I played Crystal (actually it was Cyndaquil, but that's a story for another day). I decided that I wanted to breed Leech Seed on Chikorita, though, so I did not train her too much, as I usually would with my starters. Ventured forth into Falkner's town (which name escapes me for now... hahaha) and caught a Mareep, who would be my second team member. Thanks to static, after the first Mareep, I encountered tons of other Mareep. Trained Mareep a few levels and cleared the Sprout Tower, after which Mareep evolved into Flaaffy. Next was the gym which Flaaffy easily cleared. Thank goodness Falkner doesn't have Mud Slap like he did in GSC.

I also decided to complete the Pokedex as much as I could, so I went on a catching spree. Later on, Flaaffy learned Thunder Wave which helped enormously with the process.

Reached Goldenrod. I've added my sixth team mate, Abra, and have leveled everyone up to level 17. Got a good amount of Fast Balls when the inevitable issue of Entei and Raikou comes about. So far my team is Bayleef, Hoothoot, Furret, Kadabra, Wooper and Flaafy

I spent some time levelling up my Drapion to 63 today. For Stark Mountain, I needed to leave a couple of my team members behind to make room for my Fly slave & Bibarel, and I didn't want both of them to get super far behind level wise.
Once I'd trained enough, I stored my Drapion & Yanmega in my PC and added my HM slaves to my party.

Next, I walked out to Route 227. I battled several trainers on that route, defeating most of them with my Torterra. I also ran into my rival and Crasher Wake before encountering Buck again. Continuing to Stark Mountain, I explored the outer area, and will head into the cave next time I guess.

I've managed to breed Leech Seed on Chikorita, and trained him up to be on par with Togetic and Flaaffy (L23). Next up, I decided to participate in the Bug Catching contest. Got a good haul and managed to catch the whole Weedle & Caterpie line for dex completion. Finally stumbled upon Scyther. With Togetic's Yawn, I caught it at full health and won the first place, and obtained a Sun Stone.

I checked the Scyther that I caught. It just so happened that it was a female Scyther with Adamant nature and Swarm ability, so I decided to raise it. But I wanted the Technician ability, so I went back to New Bark Town (that's a long journey! Whew!), showed Prof. Elm the Togetic and secured the Everstone. Next, back to Goldenrod (I haven't cleared the Sudowoodo, so it was a really long detour) and slapped the Everstone to Scyther. Stuck her in the Day-Care with Ditto and waited for an Egg. First hatchling was an Adamant Scyther with Technician, score! I took Scyther and Ditto back out, hatched/released the remaining Scyther eggs and began training.

Began exploring the interior of Stark Mountain today. The first room wasn't too bad, as usual. I just had to push some Strength boulders and use Rock Smash a few times to get some items.

Next, I entered the large second room. I met up with Buck again, and we decided to go through the room together. We walked around and fought several pairs of trainers. My Torterra and Starmie did most of the fighting, with Torterra reaching level 65. Buck's Claydol wasn't that useful, and it fainted a lot, though Buck healing my Pokemon after every battle was nice.

I didn't fully explore the second room today (maybe about half of it), since I simply didn't want to, but I'll finish next time.